Scox – Psychedelic Philosophy

January 22, 2013

Here we have the debut album of the Iranians(!!) Scox entitled “Psychedelic Philosophy”. To be honest I’ve never trusted asian bands because they never reach my expectations, but since the brutal assault in 2011 and the performance of Nevercell I totally changed my mind about that.

As for the “Psychedelic Philosophy” , the production is something that I wont say that it was something that I expected, and its not that bad but I am keen on better productions in such releases, nevertheless the songs are pretty good and the album kicks off with a song called “Carriage of Death” which in the first place I thought it was a regular song of the band but it came out that It was an intro, because with the second song of the album called “Violence Will Appear” everything changed in my head. This song is total violent and aggressive and trying to have highspeeds and in a way it succeeded that.

Most of the songs of “Psychedelic Philosophy” are weaving into mid to fast tempo songs with riffs that reminds the listener bands like cannibal corpse without being that much complicated though. There is also a song called “ passion of the mankind “ which is in the middle of the album which is an instrumental one with a heartfelt guitar sound with some eastern elements but not like the ones that Nile are using for their instrumental songs. This song could be the best for an intro but either way its not bad at all. Some notable songs on the album are : “Resurection of Gods” , “Death Sequence” and “A Fall From The Sky”.

Anyone that want to check that band out should just listen to the first of these three songs that I’ve mentioned above which have all the elements of Scox and their music.

Studied Business Administration, Panagiotis is Metalpaths' founder and co-editor-in-chief. He still believes that can be the... guiding light to extreme music (NOT!) and he would die to see a Pantera reunion show.

Back in 2012, I had the pleasure to find out Hail Spirit Noir and include their debut full-length record (‘Pneuma’) in the best of list of the specific year. The record made quite an impact to our music scene, clearly because of its originality. The band is described as a black metal or an avant-garde metal one, but none of the descriptions seem to fit in. Hail Spirit Noir performs some of the most original and unique music I’ve ever had the chance to hear. The years passed and here I am reviewing their comeback titled ‘ Οι Μάγοι’ (the mages).

The second full-length record of the band continues the line in the band’s career within the same music pattern. The songs are based on black metal and are influenced by the seventies. The main structure of them is either based on beautiful guitar melodies with black metal growls above them or within ambient rhythms or organ’s melodies. However, just like the cells in our body, the instruments in the songs act as a whole as well as individuals, resulting a blast of ‘noises’ which fit together and create masterpieces. We can easily get addicted to the unique guitar melodies, the progressive drumming or on the theatrical vocals. Everything performs its role perfectly.

Trying to choose my favorite moment off the record, I picked out the ending of ‘Blood Guru’ (what a chord’s alteration!), ‘Satan Is Time’ and the orgasmic eighteen minutes of perfection ( ‘The Mermaid’/ ‘ Hunters’). From the very beginning we came across the band’s mood for experiments in their sound and music; effects, organs, keyboards and progressive structures are the elements which leaded to the point where none of the songs sound the same but all together define Hail Spirit Noir. They define what the band stands out for and what the band is about, making easy to never forget how strongly they differ from any other band around. In ‘Satyriko Orgio’ for example, the band begins with a blasting and totally black metal opening, to rapidly progress into theatrical vocal parts along with a slow and edgy music background.